Devil's Advocate

After being benched by Head Coach Pete DeBoer a game before against Montreal, Kurtis Foster came out to play against the Philadelphia Flyers with a chip on his shoulder. He responded the only way that anyone could think of when trying to come up with a solution on how to impress their coach: produce. Foster netted a pair of power-play goals, one in the first and one in the second. Alexei Ponikarovsky would eventually be credited with the game winning goal in the Devils 6-4 defeat of the Flyers.

“Any time you have to sit, you always are,” he admitted to Rich Chere of The Star-Ledger. “Going through the spell I have been (minus-6 in the last four games), I don’t think I’ve been playing as bad as (it seems). But when you get scored on once or twice a game every game it kind of gets old. I got scored on twice last game and Pete didn’t like that. I had to sit and watch. It gets you revved up for today. It was nice to come out, contribute and get the win.”

Moose played great through the first two period, turning aside every shot that came his way. The Devils quickly built a 6-0 lead, it seemed almost insurmountable at that point. However, a late charge by the Flyer certainly made things interesting.The Flyer were able to pot four goals in the third period, and even out shot the Devils in the third period 24-1. If the Devils didn’t build up such a big lead, I am not so sure they walk out of the Wells Fargo Center winners this afternoon.

The bigger news came in the form of a few cheap shots from Philadelphia Flyer goon Zac Rinaldo. After a late hit on Jacob Josefson, Rinaldo proceeded to slew-foot Zach Parise in the third period. That incident set off a melee which saw Ilya Kovalchuk square off with Brayden Schenn. Kovy convincingly dropped the young talent.

“Yeah. I thought there were some cheap shots all night,” the Devils’ coach said. “I would hope some of them will get looked at. I thought there was a late hit on (Jacob) Josefson in the second period by Rinaldo. A guy like that, to me, is just looking to hurt somebody in that situation. I don’t think there is a place for it. But we have a player safety person that deals with that. I’m sure Brendan (Shanahan) will take a look at it.”

Kovy’s teammates were impressed with his combat skills.

“He’s a big, strong, tough dude. You don’t want to tick him off,” Boulton said of Kovalchuk. “I’ve seen him fare very well in all his tussles.”

Bad decision by Schenn,” Devils goalie Johan Hedberg said after the 6-4 win. “Kovy’s a big man. Obviously he shouldn’t have to fight. When he gets too upset, he does.”

After the game, Rinaldo was fined 5k all together for his hit on Josefson and the slew-foot of Parise.

The Devils got on the bus to return back to the Prudential Center to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow at 1 p.m.

About Devil's Advocate

I am an all around NHL fan. I love to watch Atlantic Division, and root for the Philadelphia Flyers. Just because I cheer for the Flyers, doesn’t mean I don’t keep up with the other teams in the division, specifically the New Jersey Devils. Devils Advocate will provide you with the most important Devils news, filled with my opinion about the selected topic.

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